Daily life is filled with these – stitches, because I crochet and knit, and words, because I love to read (and now also rekindling my love for writing). I realize that right now, that is what this space is all about, and really why I’m doing #100daysofblogging in the first place:

re-stitching this old platform

It’s hard for me to remember now why I started my first blog in 2004; I also can’t recall why I kept doing it with some regularity for 10 years. I’ve blogged in at least seven (7) different spaces in all that time. That probably means I loved it. Right?

But what was it I loved about broadcasting my life online, pre-Facebook? Was it the idea of articulating my thoughts and feelings into a (sometimes) cohesive Post? Was it interacting with readers (not saying I had any), and fellow bloggers? Or maybe it was knowing that whatever message I had for the world, I had a platform to express it. Perhaps, all of the above.

It seems easier now to figure out why I stopped.

There are so many creative, dynamic, and beautiful blogs out there. And I let myself compare my work with theirs, as if it was a competition. What’s worse? I declared my blog/s the loser.

In 2014, I talked about a Reboot. I came as far as changing the layout, writing an About page (which now needs rewriting), and then not much else. This time around, I’ll just keep writing and see where this goes. The blogging scene may very well be a huge jungle where everyone fights for their audience, and sponsors, but I don’t necessarily have to take part in that.

Like this:

For a two-person household, grocery-shopping doesn’t need to be a weekly affair. It’s become a fortnightly husband-wife bonding activity to walk through the aisles of the grocery store and debate about what makes it to checkout (like how many bags of chips he’s allowed to have).

Having a grocery list is really helpful (as I’m sure you would already know) – it keeps us from adding unnecessary items onto our cart. Every once in a while I remember to write a short list of must-buy items after asking the husband what pantry items need to be replenished – he would know better because he’s the Master Chef in this family. I’d really hate for him to get frustrated when he starts to cook only to realize he’s missing an ingredient or seasoning (also, if that happens, it’s his fault. Haha!).

At other times we just don’t have a list at all. What for? Even with one we end up going thru each aisle at the store anyway. Lately, I felt like we’ve done a better job at making wiser choices – the tape receipts are getting shorter and we’re getting closer to sticking to the budget. There are also sections that we ignore and old favorites that we’ve stopped bringing home (our purchasing habits changed a bit since I made the choice to take the path to true wellness – hope to write about this soon!).

A few weeks ago, while at the kitchen sink, I noticed that we had one too many bottles of ketchup. Then a quick check revealed that we also had one too many bottles of a few other items. We had a good laugh about this, but I knew, there was a lesson there somewhere.

We’ve also had too much toilet paper, bath soap, etcetera, etcetera.

That’s when I realized that we needed a Don’t Buy List.

The Don’t Buy List is for items we are well-stocked on – at least for the next two weeks. Having such a list becomes handy when there are on-the-spot decisions about the next week’s menu – do you want spaghetti? how about tuna-macaroni salad? At least we can check our list and know that, for example, we don’t need to buy more canned mushrooms or pasta.

But the list isn’t comprehensive and isn’t an inventory of every grocery item we still have in the house. What get’s on the list are just those obvious ones that we already have too much of, or won’t run out in the next month. Certainly, we don’t mind having extras – but too much at a time just means we could have used the money for something that would have been more urgent. With a small living space, it also means we’re not storing too much of what we don’t need right now or in the immediate future.

Finally, after years of just watching from the sidelines, I have completed a 30 Days of Thankful Album <happy dance!>.

Every November since 2012, Cathy Zielske has done this project “to help (you) remember all that is good, from the tiniest of things in this life to the most humongous, to everything in between.” Every year, I follow her posts with the full intention of joining in. In 2014, I even got as far as signing up for the private Facebook Group created for anyone who needs inspiration and support for completing their projects, yet year after year, I end up with nothing.

It doesn’t matter that it took me five months to complete an album that was meant to be done in 30 days – what matters is that I did it!

I loved working on this album and being reminded to find joy in the smallest of things, and to be grateful always.

This project also helped me come to terms with how I’d like to approach memory keeping:

I love memory keeping and the Project Life system. I almost chucked off scrapbooking as something I would never really get around to doing. I have a lot of physical products, and I also have the App. It seemed like I would start an album, make a few pages, and then never finish anything. I thought it was something I already needed to give up and get off my plate so I didn’t have to feel bad about not accomplishing anything. Completing this project changed my mind.

Having a home printer is important for me to stay on track with documenting life. By the end of the first week, I had completed my cover and the first six pages. Then I ran out of Paper for my Canon Selphy printer. That really set me back big time. I know fully well that I can still build my title Cards and journalling, then add the photos later – but for me it needed to start with the printed photo. Not having the printed photo felt like a mental block from going forward with what needed to be done.

Color coordination and embellishments are not all that important to me. Although I had always admired scrapbookers who do great embellishments, and have cohesive album pages – I realized that mine didn’t have to look that way.

Stamps are wonderful tools that you can use over and over again for your pages, but I just can’t stamp effectively. Maybe my ink pads are low quality, or maybe they‘ve dried up or lost their pigment after I’ve had them so long and not used them. I don’t know. I may really just be awful at stamps.

Alpha and number stickers are LOVE. I don’t have a lot. When the self-imposed moratorium for spending on hobbies is lifted, I am getting more. Gifts are WELCOME too. 🙂

Maybe not everyone can read my handwriting but I’m not about to let crappy handwriting stop me from adding journalling to my pages.

Speaking of journalling – I didn’t plan it, but it just came naturally to journal in English. Next time, I’ll try to express myself in Filipino or TagLish (Tagalog-English).

Great photography would be awesome for my pages! But not having great photos is just another roadblock I’d rather not stop me. Not all my photos are great, but they are photos that show what life is right now, and THAT’s what’s important.

I realized I didn’t yet have the patience, nor the interest in doing detailed and elaborate lettering work.

I do not want to completely give up on this creative activity. I still would like to hand letter when using my Passion Planner, and for my Project Life journalling or filler and title cards.

I really love both crochet and knitting and would love to stitch more pieces as gifts for friends and family.

Learning a new pattern and/or stitch excites me!

YouTube tutorials are awesome! Specially when I get so confused with written patterns. Diagrams are the next best thing.

Despite the non-success (I wouldn’t want to call it failure) of last year’s projects, I have decided to jump in and participate again this year. This time, it will be a return to blogging – what used to be my number one favorite form of Social media (before Facebook and Instagram). This Blog used to be a big part of my life and even a source of shopping money :). Now, I hardly ever Post. In fact, I have been thinking about shelving the Blog and redirecting the money for hosting fees to something more relevant and/or important. I just could not make myself do it. Some days I think about starting a different, more focused Blog altogether. Then I remember that I may not actually have the time – or ideas – for a new one.

So, here’s hoping that writing for 100 days re-ignites my love affair with blogging. Hopefully, by the end of this exercise, I would have a better idea on the direction I’ll be taking for this platform.

Are you also doing the 100 day Project? Do leave a link so I can follow along 🙂